


(show me) how you work your magic

by null_vier



Series: nomin witchery [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, Magic, Witchcraft, Witches, and they were ROOMMATES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22019686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/null_vier/pseuds/null_vier
Summary: One time Jeno tries to make some magick, he gets it all wrong. Jaemin steps in at the perfect time.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: nomin witchery [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585984
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26
Collections: kbas secret santa 2019





	(show me) how you work your magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nekrateholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekrateholic/gifts).



🌿 🌿 🌿

Jeno inhales to ground himself. To get the best effect, magick is never to be done at the height of any emotion, least of all desperation, or so his friend and mentor Jaemin always tells him. Jaemin's also said that magick relies wholly on ideation and intent, with no need for fancy tools or materials. In fact, the strongest magick practitioners could manifest with nothing but their minds, Jaemin would add. The connection with the divine is all that matters.

As it is, Jeno's still pretty much a noob at the occult and needs a material connection. He could meditate or something until his veins popped from his forehead, but he doubts he could whip up a cure for his troubles like that at his level. At least he's got the herbs he needs, the centerpiece of his impromptu spell. All that's left is the ritual itself.

He pokes around the low dresser Jaemin had converted into an altar, carefully pushing away a mug with a tiny plushie serving as Jaemin's familiar. Jeno doesn't get why he can't just keep a live animal like a stereotypical witch. Jaemin whined that it'd be too much work, but Jeno vibed more with the idea of a cat than some weird-looking pink bear thing. He would have to ask Jaemin and their landlady about getting one later… a cat, not another plushie. Never mind that he'd have to wear a face mask at home forever. It would be worth it for a bit of extra warmth, especially during sleepless nights like this one.

Jeno switches off his bedside lamp to light a few tea candles instead. He doesn't need to burn anything for the spell; it's just for the witchy ambiance, and the candlelight takes him back to when he used to room with Renjun. Too bad Renjun would take his candles and late-night musings with him when their lease expired and he shacked up with his boyfriend Lucas. It was a bummer to lose a friend like that, especially when Jeno was, and still is, painfully single, but it wasn't bad to gain Jaemin's company either.

Jeno's new roommate turned out to be far from a nocturnal philosopher, but their best metaphysical conversations were meant for the daytime anyway, when Jaemin's special coffee brew would jumpstart their brains. It was also over coffee that Jeno discovered Jaemin's plants were being grown for more than culinary and environmental purposes. Magic? Apparently it was a thing Jaemin did, and not just a thing he was.

After some more rummaging and squinting at labels in the low light, no thanks to Jaemin rearranging his and Jeno's shared space, Jeno's got everything. A small selection of glass jars and vials twinkle up at him in the center of the altar, all but one containing essential oils and blends from his crafting with Jaemin. 

Focusing on his intentions and on the properties of each of the oils, Jeno slowly funnels them into the empty amber dropper bottle, ending with the rosemary oil at the halfway mark. He then drops a fresh sprig of fragrant lavender in, and is about to add catnip when something hits him. He bites back a curse. He completely forgot to grind his herbs.

_What a rookie mistake_ , he grumbles as he flicks on his lamp and then Jaemin's. Unbroken concentration is important to successful magick, and the spell is supposed to be a quick one anyway. Jeno also hoped he wouldn't have to go through the bottom drawers, where the heavier stuff like books and crystals lie… except, right there on Jaemin's bed are a mortar and pestle Jeno's never seen before.

_"While we build your toolkit, you can use any of my stuff!"_ Jaemin chirped when Jeno confessed he had only a basic card deck and a handful of rocks to call his own. One of those was rose quartz, the same mineral the cool pestle in Jeno's hands appears to be made of. Jeno smiles. It's just like Jaemin to get a bougie crystal pestle, even if its mortar is a boring gray rock.

On the way back to his spot with the mismatched pair of tools, the door opens, and a beautifully damp-haired Jaemin enters. He’s dressed for bed but still toweling his hair off, giving off a fresh scent that gently intertwines with the fragrance of the combined oils. 

"Hey, your turn at the bath-- what are you doing?" Jaemin's face falls so fast at the sight of him that Jeno panics.

Jeno looks from his hands to the altar. "Uh… sleep spell?" Is he not supposed to do it now? Is the moon phase unsupportive? Did mercury retrograde early?

"No, I mean…" Jaemin looks panicked himself. He points at Jeno's hands. "What are you doing with _that_?"

"I... thought I'd… grind up herbs?"

Jaemin's apparently transforming into a frog, judging by how croakier he’s getting by the second. "And did you? Grind up herbs with that?"

"N-no." It's the truth, but Jeno can feel a flush creeping up his neck. "I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to do any magick right now, but I've been having trouble sleeping and…"

"Ah, Jeno." Jaemin strides over, taking Jeno's wrists and gently coaxing him to sit on Jaemin's bed. "It's not that. Magick's all good for tonight, but it's just…" He takes the rose quartz piece and spins it in his hands. Then, as if forgetting his near-meltdown earlier, he chuckles for no obvious reason. "Well, if you wanna do a quick sleeping spell using this, you probably don't need anything else." 

That doesn’t clear up anything for Jeno. “Just that? Sounds like high-level stuff.” He puts the mortar on the floor.

Jaemin actually guffaws now. “It’s really not, I swear! You know how...” Jeno can’t be sure, with most of the light in the room being focused on the altar, but it looks like his roommate’s turning pink. He buries his cheeks into the towel still hanging from his neck. “You know about the chakras, right? And how you can activate each of them to get energy flowing a certain way like to encourage sleep? To oversimplify, I mean.”

“Yeah.” Though Jeno’s never seriously tried to work on his so-called energy centers, he could probably afford to look into it. “What’s that gotta do with your pestle?”

“Well, firstly.” Jaemin grips the object tightly with both hands, looking like he’s about to break it from pent-up stress. “This is no pestle, and I… use this crystal on my root and sacral chakras.” While Jaemin wasn’t completely relaxed from the beginning, he curls up into a ball at that. He’d probably burrow into his sheets if Jeno wasn’t pinning them down.

“Hold up. The root chakra… that’s the one, like, at the base of the spine, while the sacral chakra is above it...” Jeno feels like he's being quizzed. He hasn't mastered what specific body parts or glands are associated with these chakras, but--

He looks at the cylindrical piece of crystal still in Jaemin's hold. Jaemin peeks at him from his between his arms.

“Oh, you don’t use that to grind anything...”

“Nope.”

“Because it’s what gets ground on when you put it to your--”

Jaemin flies out of his ball to cover Jeno’s mouth. “Goddess! Don’t be fucking crass, Lee Jeno.”

Jeno would try to snap back, but he’s too busy laughing low behind Jaemin’s palm. This is, no doubt, the best learning experience he’s gotten since he decided to practice magick. It’s probably the best experience overall he’s shared with his roommate of 5 months, too.

Finally realizing the uselessness of trying to hush Jeno, who's flat on the bed and still shaking with laughter, Jaemin takes his hand away. “Fine. Laugh all you want.” It’s clear Jaemin’s pouting, though Jeno can’t see through his tears. “But sex magick is legit, y’know. You don’t know how many great things I’ve manifested with that toy.” Jaemin flops onto his back.

When Jeno catches his breath, he inhales once more to ground himself, and sits up. Magick needs only the metaphysical intent, making the material extra. The strongest magick practitioners could manifest with nothing but their minds, but Jeno is nowhere near that level, and neither is Jaemin. They still have so much to learn about magick, including the connection they’ve forged with each other.

So Jeno takes the rose quartz wand, and glides forward until he can brace himself over Jaemin’s prone form. Jaemin flutters his long eyelashes at him, and Jeno can just make out the widening of his pupils. On his neck, and on the inside of his wrists, the light citrus scent he carried with him into the room unveils something more flowery yet heavy that's unidentifiable to Jeno's brain right now. He could not have imagined that Jaemin would become only more enchanting the closer they got. 

“Show me how you work your magic.” 

🌿 🌿 🌿

**Author's Note:**

> happy yuletide from the boys and me! 🎄


End file.
